Peaceful pro-Palestinian protests continue to be unlawfully restricted or vilified across Europe.
Ed. Note: At the time of publishing this piece, we at IFEX are bearing witness to the atrocious escalation of violence in Palestine and Israel. In this worrisome context, we express our firm solidarity with IFEX members MADA, 7amleh and I’Iam, and with our colleagues throughout the region, as the consequences of the conflict spread beyond their borders.
This statement was originally published on pen-international.org on 14 November 2023.
PEN International expresses deep concerns about continued efforts by authorities in several European countries to restrict peaceful pro-Palestinian protests. PEN International urges states to respect, protect and fulfil the right to peaceful assembly without discrimination of any kind.
Since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel on 7 October 2023, and Israel’s subsequent bombardment and total siege on Gaza, peaceful protestors across Europe have sought to call for an end to atrocities. Yet authorities in various countries – including Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom – have imposed bans on pro-Palestinian protests or exerted political pressure on the police to prevent rallies, unduly curtailing the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
In France, the Ministry of Interior first imposed a blanket ban on pro-Palestinian protests, before the country’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, struck it down on 18 October. In Germany, police responded to a rise in antisemitism by pre-emptively banning most pro-Palestinian protests. On 13 October, education authorities in the state of Berlin permitted schools to ban students from wearing the Palestinian flag, kufiya scarfs and ‘free Palestine’ stickers. Even where protests were not banned, some government officials actively sought to prevent them. In the United Kingdom, then Home Secretary Suella Braverman urged the police to use ‘the full force of the law’ in pro-Palestinian protests, which she labelled ‘hate marches’. She also suggested that waving a Palestinian flag could be a criminal offence. Accused of stoking far-right violence in the lead-up to a protest in London on 11 November, she was dismissed from her role two days later.
‘International law is very clear: people around the world have the right to peacefully assemble to demand change. Any decision to ban or disperse a protest should be taken only as a last resort. Yet peaceful pro-Palestinian protests continue to be unlawfully restricted or vilified across Europe. People should be allowed to support the human rights of the Palestinian people and to call for a ceasefire. As the conflict unfolds and the brutal blockade and bombardment of Gaza continue, we urge the authorities across Europe to enable people’s right to peacefully come together and express themselves’, said Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director of PEN International.
Everyone is entitled to the right to peaceful assembly. Any decision to ban or disperse an assembly should be taken as a last resort and carefully in line with the principles of necessity and proportionality, and only when there are no other means available to protect a legitimate aim that outweighs the right of people to assemble.
Background information
On 7 October, Hamas crossed the border into Israel and carried out heinous mass killings of civilians, took hostages, and launched indiscriminate rockets into Israel. In response, Israel initiated a campaign of extensive bombardments in residential areas and imposed a total siege on Gaza. PEN International condemns in the strongest possible terms the mounting toll of civilian casualties and the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. The organisation calls for an immediate ceasefire, the protection of civilians, including the release of all hostages, and the end of the siege imposed on Gaza.
